


Something

by JWade



Series: Anything [3]
Category: Norse Religion & Lore, Supernatural
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2016-09-15
Packaged: 2018-08-14 21:07:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 20,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8028988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JWade/pseuds/JWade
Summary: Third in my Anything series. Dean is trying to settle into Loki's house with Hela and the rest of the extended family and Sam and Loki work on adding onto the family while hiding from the interference of the angels and their desire to restart the apocalypse.





	1. Chapter 1

Sam and Loki relaxed in bed for a little while, letting the bond and the fact that they were going to be parents settle. Sam was glad that Loki had been through this before, from both sides, and would know what to expect and be able to help Sam through it. He basically had the baby part figured out from Narfi and Nari and was good with the older kids from Hati and Skoll, but the whole pregnancy part was very new to him. A conversation he’d had with Loki back at the beginning suddenly popped back up in his mind. “So you implied once that gods and part gods age differently than humans…” Sam let the sentence hang waiting for Loki to explain. 

Loki sighed. This would be difficult to explain, but Sam really should know now, and at least now he had examples to draw from. “It’s complicated, but basically they age in spurts, kinda. Take Narfi and Nari for example. They aged like humans up until they were about a year old, but now that they are coming into their powers their physical and mental aging will slow to a crawl for a few years as their powers grow, then they will age a few more years physically and mentally and then another break for their powers to catch up.”

“So as an example, how many years have Hati and Skoll been alive?” Sam asked hoping to get some kind of time frame or at least wrap his head around the differences a little more. 

“Nineteen years,” Loki told him. 

“So a little more than twice their physical age,” Sam puzzled out. 

“Right. It can vary, depending on how powerful they are, for example more power will have longer breaks, less power will have shorter breaks, but on average it’s about fifty percent.”

“So since I’m human, how will that affect our kids’ power?” Sam asked. 

“It would be much the same as Fenny, Hel, and Jormy. They would be half-god, but the fact that we are bonded will give them a little more of a boost,” Loki explained. 

“So would our kids be more or less than Hati and Skoll?” Sam asked curiously. 

“It’s impossible to say with any certainty, but I would guess more. Even though they are three quarter god, their power levels are skewed because they got so much from my side of the family and their mother’s power diluted theirs a bit,” Loki explained. 

“But I don’t have any power so wouldn’t that make a difference?” Sam asked confused. 

“Yes and no. They will get power from me only, so they will get say, halfish. You don’t have any powers so it just leaves it there. If you had powers but weaker than me, they would contribute and dilute the powers they get from me. Like I said, it’s complicated,” Loki said with a slight chuckle at the confused look on Sam’s face. 

“Yeah. I can see that now,” Sam said scrunching up his nose in thought. 

“Look at it this way. It’s about the same as a human trying to predict what their baby will look like or what their interests will be. There are a lot of factors and most of them can’t be measured,” Loki told him. 

“Yeah. That makes sense,” Sam agreed. That made it a lot easier to wrap his head around. He knew as much as he could about what to expect, except… “What about the pregnancy? Will it be the normal nine months or…”

“Anywhere from nine to twelve,” Loki told him. Knowing he would want an example he added, “Hati and Skoll were born after a little over eleven months. Narfi and Nari just over ten. Twins tend to take a little longer though.”

“What about the birth? I mean, I’m guessing you don’t use hospitals or anything, but who delivers the babies?” Sam asked nervously. 

“Anyone can. Sometimes the father, sometimes another family member, sometimes whoever happens to be available when the time comes. We can always decide on that later,” Loki told him. He knew that Sam needed to talk all this out now that everything was real, even if they were getting a little ahead of themselves on some of it. If long boring conversations was what it took to settle Sam’s nerves, then he would gladly have as many as needed. 

“Right. Okay,” Sam replied and a grin broke out on his face. “We’re having a baby,” he said happily. 

“Yeah. We are,” Loki said squeezing Sam tightly and leaning up for a kiss. 

The moment was interrupted by the sound of feet pattering down the hall and children’s laughter and they both laughed. “Guess it’s time to get up,” Sam said only partially disappointed. As much as he enjoyed this time with Loki, he also loved having a houseful of family, and it seemed like that would be a permanent thing now with Fenny and the boys living here, Dean living downstairs, and probably Hel and her little one’s around all the time. He just wished Jormy would warm up to him one day and everything would be complete. 

They headed back downstairs to find Hati and Skoll setting up the raske lys board and Dean asking questions about the game. Sam could help but snicker as he could only imagine what his brother’s face would look like once they started playing. Sam had actually had Loki get him his own board and had gotten better. He was fairly decent on level one, but he still couldn’t compete with any of the gods in the house of course. 

They let Dean watch a game, slack-jawed and laughed openly at his reaction, before they pulled him and Hel away to work on Dean’s apartment. Loki snapped up the barebones and they started walking through letting Dean make adjustments where he wanted, with Hel chiming in too since they had pretty much agreed that she would be at least a part time resident. By the time they were finished there was a large master bedroom with a bathroom off one side and a nursery for the babies off the other, a small living room and a kitchenette. They would use the main house more often than not, but this gave them some space to be alone sometimes too. 

At Dean’s request the wards around the cribs were given an audible alarm so that he could know if the babies made a run for it too. He wanted to participate more in this whole family thing and he wanted Hel to be able to trust him to watch the babies. Since she had mentioned bonding he had been thinking about it. He wasn’t nearly ready for a step like that yet, but he thought that maybe one day he could be and he needed to get used to all aspects of this life and prove that he could. 

It took them an hour to get the apartment all set up and then they started working on the little things like clothes and toiletries and everything else that Dean would need before they headed back to the main house again to find Fenrir with a baby on each knee now as the boys were still playing their game. Once they came back in, Hati and Skoll promptly abandoned their game and ran over to Sam. “Isa! Can we play mopoly now?” one of them asked excitedly. 

“You mean monopoly?” Sam asked with a chuckle. He was usually the instigator of the ‘human’ games, so they came to him when they wanted to play one. Fenrir perked up at that. He had heard a lot about that game, but had never had occasion to play it himself since it was usually only trotted out when Sam and Loki were babysitting and he was gone. “Sure thing kiddos. Why don’t we all play?” Sam suggested. It would be a nice relaxing way for Dean to get to know everyone and they had just enough people since the twins usually played as a team anyway. 

After a quick explanation of the rules for Fenrir and Hel they settled down to play. There was a good-natured dust-up between Fenrir and Dean over who got to be the car which Dean won and by that time all the other pieces had been snatched up so Fenrir got stuck with the boot which he pretended to pout about. They whiled away most of the afternoon laughing and talking while they played the game, chased the babies when they took off with pieces, and everyone spent some time with a baby in their lap. By the time dinner rolled around Hati and Skoll had christened Dean as ‘Uncle Dean’ and the hunter had to admit that this seemed like a great family. He could understand why Sam was so happy here and thought that maybe he could be too.


	2. Chapter 2

As they were sitting down to dinner the front door opened again and Jormungandr returned looking nervous and confused and even a little lost, like he was unsure of his place or his welcome. “You almost missed dinner. Pull up a chair,” Loki said warmly acting as if everything was normal. As if he hadn’t stormed out of the house at his father’s happy news. As if he hadn’t spent most of the day insulting and accusing half the people in the room of ruining their lives. As if nothing had changed between any of them. 

The snake god sat nervously next to his brother at the end of the table and was surprised when no one said anything. Dean didn’t really care much one way or the other and everyone else was content to follow Loki’s lead. At least for now. Any issues they had could be hashed out later. None of them were willing to take on Loki’s wrath for causing trouble at the dinner table. Jormy had never been overly social, but this time his silence was spent watching everyone and trying to take in the new family dynamic. 

Loki saw all that and he knew what was really bothering his younger son. Jormy had never dealt well with change and now there were so many changes coming at him so fast and he was unsure of his place in the new family structure. He had always felt like the odd one out, but it seemed that was even more true now and Loki could understand that. Especially now that he and Sam were together and Hel had Dean and the babies and Fenny was happy just raising his sons, but Jormy was alone. Loki had been alone for a long time. He knew how much of a toll that could take on a person, and now he was in hiding for no one knew how long so that would just make matters worse. 

After dinner, Fenrir and Hel took all four of the kids to watch a movie while Sam and Dean made for the lounge to do the catching up they hadn’t had a chance to do yet and Loki clapped a hand on Jormy’s shoulder and said, “Let’s take a walk.” It had been far too long since he’d had any one on one time with his younger son and he needed some guidance right now. 

The snake god’s shoulders dropped like he was expecting the axe to fall at any moment and followed his father outside as they started to walk Sam’s jogging trail. Loki waited patiently for Jormy to speak, but it was a good while before he did. “You seem happy,” the young god said eventually with a sad undertone. 

“I am happy, Jormy. I know all these changes are unsettling for you, but if you’d give it a chance I think you’d be happy too,” Loki told him. 

“I just don’t know…” he trailed off swallowing the lump in his throat.

Loki knew his son well enough to know what he was thinking and this was the main reason he had brought him out here. He stopped and moved in front of Jormy, putting his hands on his son’s shoulders. “I need you to listen to me very carefully, okay?” He waited until he got a nod before he continued. “It doesn’t matter what changes are going on in this family or in my life. It doesn’t matter who else comes in. It doesn’t matter what differences we may have with each other or how much we fight. You are still my son and you are always welcome in my home and in my life.”

“But it’s not just your home anymore,” he pointed out. 

“No. It’s not. But that doesn’t change anything. Even if Sam wouldn’t want you there, he would just have to deal, but Jormy, he does want you around. He wants to get to know you. He wants you to like him. He wants to have a relationship with you. I’m not asking you to become his best friend. I’m just asking you to keep an open mind and stop pushing him away. He’s not trying to take me away from you. From any of you. You can see how close he is with Fenny and Hel and the kids. He IS a part of this family, just like you are.”

“And if we do get to know each other and hate each other anyway?” 

“I don’t think that’ll happen, but even if it does, it changes nothing with you and me or with you and your brothers and sister. I will expect you to treat him with respect when you’re here and he will be expected to treat you the same, but otherwise you can just avoid each other. It doesn’t matter. You are my son and I don’t care how anyone else feels about you, even Sam, you will always have a place here. Understood?” 

Jormy nodded uncertainly, but he wasn’t entirely convinced. “We’re always fighting,” he pointed out. That was his main concern with this new dynamic. Fenny and Hel both had their kids and it had always been him and his dad when they were busy, but now that he had someone else to turn to for companionship, someone that didn’t argue with him all the time, he might find it easier not to deal with him. 

Loki just laughed though and slung an arm over his son’s shoulders and pulled him forward so they were walking again. “That’s to be expected. We’re too much alike, you and I.”

“We’re like exact opposites,” Jormy said confused. 

“Only on the surface, kiddo. Only on the surface. We choose different masks to hide behind, but what’s beneath them? That’s the same,” Loki told him. “You hide everything behind anger and stoicism, while I hide behind joviality. I always took care to hide the darker aspects of my life and my moods from you kids, and maybe that was a mistake. There has been a great deal of upheaval in my life. People come and go. My…my brothers and sisters…my…father…they all messed me up pretty good. You know your mother and I were never in love, but I wanted kids. I wanted someone who would always be there. Someone I could always love, no matter what. I know what it’s like to be unsure of where you belong, to see everything changing around you and not knowing where to go or how to act or whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing. I get it. Really. But I don’t ever want you to wonder if there is a place for you here because no matter how much we fight, no matter how much we get on each other’s nerves, or drive each other crazy, you’re still my anchor. All of you are. Just because I have more doesn’t mean I don’t need the ones I already had okay?” 

“Okay. Yeah. I got it,” he said with a small smile. He realized that Loki might have a point about them being more alike than he’d thought. He never realized how deeply he had felt things. His father had never opened up to him like that before. He had definitely never talked about his family from back then before. That more than anything else, assured him that he was being sincere. “You just always seem so confident and comfortable and in control.”

“I wasn’t always,” Loki told him. “I used to be just like you. Scared and insecure, always wondering if anyone ever cared or even wanted me around and pushing everyone away because it was easier than letting them push me away. You’re only a few thousand years old. You’ll find your way, just like I did. And I’m always here to help, anytime you need help or advise or even just someone to rant to.”

“Thanks dad.”

“Anytime, kiddo. Anytime.” They walked in a comfortable silence for a little longer before Loki said, “You ready to head back?”

“Yeah. Sounds good. And Dad?” Loki hummed in response. “Can we do this again sometimes? Just me and you?”

“Absolutely. Whenever you want. We can even make it a weekly thing if you want to,” Loki told him. He hadn’t realized how much Jormy just wanted a connection. His younger son usually just showed up when he wanted to yell at him for something, so there wasn’t really any way for him to know. He tried to keep that in mind and not beat himself up too much over the matter. They were getting back on track now and that’s all that mattered. There was just one more thing. “And I do think you owe Sam an apology.”

“Yeah. I know,” Jormy said looking down chastised. 

As they walked into the house, they looked in on the group watching television as they headed to the lounge to find Sam and Dean talking and laughing as they drank. Thankfully they hadn’t been gone long enough for them to be drunk yet as Loki walked over to Dean and dropped a hand on his shoulder and said, “Take a walk with me.” Dean was fully aware in that moment that he was trapped here in an alternate dimension with a dozen beings who could destroy him with just a thought and that statement was not a request so much as it was an order. An order from his girlfriend’s father at that. He tried not to show his nervousness as he got up and followed Loki out the door as Jormungandr sat down across from Sam in Dean’s vacated seat.


	3. Chapter 3

Sam was more than a little nervous when Jormungandr sat down across from him. He didn’t know what to expect from the touchy god and he was surprised when all he got was an, “I’m sorry Sam.”

“I get it. You were worried about your family,” Sam told him. 

“Well yeah. I was. I am. That’s not going to change. This whole situation is a nightmare, but it’s not your fault and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you,” Jormy said making it very clear whose fault it was. He and his dad may be working things out but that didn’t mean a blanket agreement with every stupid thing he did. 

“Hey, you can blame me all you want if it means not blaming your dad,” Sam said, eager to take any pressure off Loki that he could. 

That brought a slight smile to the snake god’s face. He liked that Sam was willing to take the hit for Loki. He liked what it meant about their relationship. Too bad it didn’t work that way. “Well it is his fault. It’s his choices that led us here. But none of that matters anymore. It is what it is and we just have to deal with it. I’ll never agree with it, but I can…and will…let it go.” 

“I’m sure he’d be glad to hear it. He really hates fighting with you,” Sam told him. 

“Yeah. I know. But I hope you and I can put this behind us too. I mean, I know how much he hates having tension in the family and since you’re obviously sticking around…” Jormy trailed off leaving the statement open. He intentionally framed it as a matter of what his father would want so that Sam wouldn’t just push him away like he expected. 

“I don’t like the tension either,” Sam said pointedly trying to make it clear that he wasn’t doing this just because of Loki. “I’d happily put this behind us and start over. I’d like to have the same kind of relationship with you that I have with your brother and sister. We are family now, and I’d really like that to be in more than name.”

Jormy stuck his hand out and they shook on it, so Sam poured him a drink and the conversation moved on to other things as they just worked on trying to get to know each other. 

 

While Sam and Jormy were settling things between them, Loki was leading Dean out of the house and back to Sam’s running trail. This time though he didn’t wait for Dean to talk first. He knew that the hunter was expecting the whole father speech about him and Hela, but that wasn’t why he called him out. “We have a few things we need to straighten out. Like it or not, you’re part of this family now and I expect things to be peaceful here. First of all, I want to apologize for my attitude when you first got here…”

“Oh no. Don’t worry about that. Your grandson was kidnapped and being tortured. I don’t think I would’ve been any better in your situation,” Dean told him. Of all the things he held against the god/archangel that wasn’t one of them. 

“Just because it’s understandable doesn’t mean it’s right,” Loki pointed out. “But thank you for understanding anyway. Now I know we have a not so nice history and that you have certain prejudices against us that won’t be set aside as easily as you may think. I can tell you’re trying though and I do appreciate it, but I felt we needed to take this opportunity to air everything out.”

“Everything like….” Dean wanted more clarification on what exactly Loki meant. 

“For example, when you got here, I didn’t miss that you referred to us as monsters. You seem to have realized that’s not the case, but I just want to make it clear that any more outbursts like that and I don’t care what you mean to Hel or Sam, you’ll be out.”

“Yeah. I got it. Sam already set me straight on that one. Like you said, I was raised with certain prejudices and I’m trying to overcome that. I can see now that you’re not monsters, but you’re right. It’s not as easy as I want it to be,” Dean admitted getting the idea that complete honesty was the best way to play this. 

“I understand that, and if it helps you can always come talk to me. I helped Sam get over his hang-ups and maybe I can help you too. I know this probably isn’t the sort of thing you want to discuss with Hel, and to be honest, I’d really rather you didn’t. She can be very sensitive and if she thinks that even some small part of you sees her like that it would hurt her more than she would admit,” Loki told him. 

“I think I can work through it on my own, but I’ll keep the offer in mind,” Dean told him. He wasn’t exactly comfortable opening up to Loki about it. If he needed help he’d be more likely to go to Sam anyway, but he figured Loki knew that and was just intending it as a peace offering so chose to take it that way. 

“Good. Now it’s your turn to air any issues you have with me,” Loki told him. 

“I’m good,” Dean said quickly. Too quickly. 

“No you’re not. If we leave these things to fester, then they will just blow up later. We need to get it out in the open so we can move forward with a clean slate.”

Dean wasn’t very good at the whole talking things out thing. He was the type to do exactly as Loki said and leave it to fester. It seemed he would have to get used to it though. Apparently that was how things worked in this family and he couldn’t exactly say it was a bad thing. In fact, he rather envied their ability to do so. It just made him uncomfortable. “I’ve never been much for talking things out. It’s just…weird and uncomfortable.”

“Yeah. It definitely can be,” Loki admitted. “But it’s even worse if things go too far. Then things are likely to be said that can’t be taken back and it just makes everything seem so much bigger than it has to be.”

Dean just nodded. It made sense and he knew Loki was right. He would just have to try and deal with it. “Sam said you didn’t really kill anyone back at the college the first time we met you.” 

“Well not exactly. Technically the professor did die, but believe me, no one was more surprised than me when he took a header out of the window. I made sure the ghost girl I snapped up for him wouldn’t get between him and the door so he could have left that way.”

“Why would you do that to begin with?” Dean asked not completely able to keep the judgement out of his voice. 

“The way he pressured his students to sleep with him, using their grades as bargaining chips and even threatening disciplinary action if they didn’t was disgusting. He needed to be taught a lesson. That’s what I do. I find people that hurt others and teach them a lesson,” Loki told him. 

“I didn’t know that,” Dean said. The whole idea of a non-human killing a human just rubbed him the wrong way, but if he had gotten his hands on the bastard knowing what he was doing there may have been the same outcome and the death apparently wasn’t intentional. 

“I dropped as many hints as a I could. The signs were all there. It wasn’t my fault if you ignored them,” Loki pointed out. 

“But was it really necessary to make us think you were killing people?” Dean asked. 

“It was the easiest way to make you stick around and figure out what was going on. I knew you were losing interest after the alien thing so I made up a fake death to keep you on it.”

“But why couldn’t you just come to us, tell us you wanted to make friends and to call you if we needed you. I mean, Sam said the whole point was so that we would call you for help instead of me selling my soul,” Dean asked confused. 

“Because I had been watching you two for a while. I knew you pretty well. If I had come to you openly like that, not only would you never have believed that I didn’t have anything nefarious planned, but I would have been negotiating from a position of power and neither of you would have responded well to that. My way, you two had the power. You had the weapons you needed to kill me. And you had a bargaining chip. The plan was to talk you down and you would grudgingly let me go and then you could always say that I owed you for that if you needed help.”

Dean couldn’t deny that it had been a good plan. He was right about how they would have reacted if he had just come to them. It could very well have worked out the way he planned if Dean had been willing to listen. “Well did you really have to kill me a thousand times just because I didn’t listen?”

“That wasn’t about you not listening. It was about trying to get Sam to let go. Trying to get him to accept the fact that you were going to die and that he could do nothing about it. Better that he get all the rage and vengeance out within a time loop where any damage he did could be fixed than wait until the real thing and watch him destroy the world. That’s why you never had any memory of dying. You didn’t need to remember. That wasn’t about hurting you. It wasn’t even about hurting him. I hated doing that to him. Seeing his heart break over and over, but I didn’t see another way until he offered me one.”

“He offered you one?” Dean asked curiously. 

“Yeah. He said he would do anything if I would bring you back so I pitched the idea of taking him off the game board altogether. Without his cooperation, holding him would have been a nightmare as I’m sure you can imagine, but he gave me the opening and after a bit of a negotiation he agreed. I gave him back the last few months he had with you and he was to stay here with me for ten years, giving him the time he needed to get over your death and me the time I needed to break all this to him and help keep him out of the game.”

“I hate that you kept him from me. That you let me think the worst about his fate for so long after I came back. That you were just going to let me keep thinking he was dead or worse if everything hadn’t happened the way it did,” Dean said with a little more heat than he intended. 

Loki knew they were getting to the heart of it now. “I knew your prejudice against ‘monsters’ ran far deeper than Sam’s. I didn’t think there was any way to get past that and bringing you in meant either holding you here against your will or letting you go again with all our secrets. I couldn’t have forseen you and Hela falling for each other. You notice once the damage was done and bringing you in didn’t mean more danger for my family, I didn’t hesitate to do so, but I won’t apologize for trying to limit the danger my family was in.”

“And what about my family? We didn’t matter?” Dean asked. 

“Whether you knew it or not your family was safe. You saw what happened at just the suggestion that we were involved with Sam’s disappearance. Skoll could have been killed. My children could have been killed trying to get him back. Hati could have been taken with him and we could have had no clue where they were. I wasn’t willing to sacrifice them to give you peace of mind and maybe that is selfish of me. Maybe it was putting my family before yours, but tell me you would have done anything different in my place,” Loki challenged. 

Dean couldn’t do that. He knew that if the situation were reversed he would have done the same. Not only that but he saw how attached Sam was to this family. If they had been hurt or killed just to give Dean that peace of mind, Sam would have been devastated and maybe even blamed Dean. He couldn’t shake the idea that Loki wasn’t telling him everything though. “And that’s all it was?” he asked pointedly. 

“That’s all it was from my side. Anything more than that you’ll have to talk to Sam about,” Loki told him. He wanted Sam to talk to his brother about all of his fears about how Dean would take his new life. He thought it would be good for them. He wasn’t about to betray his lover’s trust though and tell Dean himself. 

Part of Dean was annoyed that something was still being kept from him, but he could understand Loki’s position. If Sam had told him something in confidence then he wouldn’t want to say anything, but at least he had let Dean know there was something so he knew that he needed to talk to Sam about it. “Fair enough. Now that everything is hashed out, I’ll just say this. It’s in the past. Bygones and all that. I can see how happy you make Sam. How happy this whole family makes him and that’s all that matters to me in the long run. So if it’ll make him happy for me to play nice then I will, not that it will be all that hard. You all seem like cool people…err beings. Whatever. So let’s just leave all this behind us where it belongs and move forward from here.”

Loki nodded appreciatively. “We can do that,” he said with finality as they turned and started heading back the way they came. 

After a few minutes, Dean couldn’t help but ask, “You know I expected some sort of threats regarding Helen…I mean Hela.”

“Nah. I figure between me and her brothers, not even counting what she would do to you, you wouldn’t dare do anything stupid like hit her or treat her badly. Beyond that, it’s none of my business. Whether you work out or not is between you. As long as you treat her with respect you won’t have any issues from me and I’ll do my best to keep her brothers off your case too.”

“Good. That’s…that’s nice to know,” Dean said surprised that he was taking it so well. He didn’t know if he’d be able to be as easygoing about his daughter’s relationship if he ever had a daughter. “But if we don’t work, and I’m staying here, how will that work?” It was already made clear that he could leave, but living with his ex-girlfriend’s family could cause problems. 

“You’re still Sam’s brother which means you’re still family either way. You have your own apartment so if you and Hela can’t manage to be in the same room together we can just make sure you don’t have to be,” Loki said with a shrug. Sure it might be a little difficult and awkward, but they would manage. He had a good feeling about them though. If Dean could look past his whole ‘monster’ aversion for her, then he didn’t think there was much that could come between them.


	4. Chapter 4

By the time Loki and Dean got back to the house, all four of the kids had been put to bed for the night and Hel and Fenrir had joined Sam and Jormy in the lounge and they were all laughing and having fun. Loki grinned at the sight of all of his family together and happy as he walked over and plopped himself in Sam’s lap, planting a kiss on his lips and nuzzling his neck. Dean sat down next to Hela on the couch and she wasted no time curling up to his side and they just had a good time for the rest of the night. Dean still needed to have a conversation with Sam, but that could wait until tomorrow. When it was noticed that Loki wasn’t drinking, they gave the news about the impending baby and got congratulations all around. Even Jormy congratulated them, though it was rather stilted. It was early morning before any of them headed to bed, all except Loki more than a little tipsy. 

The next morning, the parents among them, including Dean mostly because he was determined to prove that he could be with Hel and help her with her babies, regretted their late night. Hel had been intending to take the twins into the main house as soon as they woke up and let Dean sleep, but he wouldn’t hear of it, despite his hangover. Hel rewarded him with a warm kiss and resolved to reward him properly later. Thankfully Narfi and Nari seemed to be in a reasonably cooperative mood so the four of them had breakfast in the apartment, not really in the mood for the crowd in the main house. 

Fenrir was the only one up at that point though with Hati and Skoll who could tell their father didn’t feel good so were taking every effort to be quiet and cause as little trouble as possible. Of course, they were trying to hard not to cause trouble that it ended up having the opposite effect. Three broken glasses and one broken plate later they managed to make it through breakfast and Fenrir turned on the television for the boys and lay down on the couch. Everyone else staggered down near lunchtime feeling much better by then and Dean and Hel emerged from the apartment as well and they all had a big lunch, though it was still rather subdued. 

After lunch, Hati and Skoll wanted to go swimming and everyone else thought that was a great idea so they headed out to the pool area, but Dean held Sam back. “We can catch up in a little bit,” Dean told him and when Sam sat back down he just barreled forward. “Loki implied that you might have had some concerns about me coming here.” Sam sucked in a sharp breath. He couldn’t believe that Loki had told Dean that. They were obviously unfounded anyway so it didn’t even matter anymore. “Come on Sam. Just talk to me,” Dean said seeing that Sam wasn’t so keen on the idea. 

“It’s just…Loki’s not human. And male. I didn’t know how you would take it,” Sam relented. 

“And you thought I would try and get you away from him and cause trouble with you two?” Dean guessed. 

“More like I thought you would hate me for it,” Sam said with an insecure shrug. 

“Look, I’m not gonna lie. The not human thing threw me for a loop. Big time. But I can deal. Why would you think the male thing would be such an issue though?” 

“Well when I was a teenager you would always get on me when you saw me looking at a guy and then after we met Loki for the first time, the way you reacted when you accused me of flirting with him,” Sam pointed out. 

“When we were kids I was just trying to protect you from Dad and when we met Loki that was just teasing. If I had known that you really were interested I would have eased off. I’m not gonna say I’m completely comfortable with it, but you’re happy. That’s all that matters so I’ll get used to it,” Dean told him. He decided not to say that things might have been different if he hadn’t spent so much time worried that his brother was dead and just been so happy to see him that he wasn’t going to rock the boat. Sam didn’t need that and Dean couldn’t say for sure anyway so might as well let it lie. 

Sam felt the need to change the subject at that before he got all choked up so he said, “So that’s what you and Loki went to do last night? Talk about me?”

“No. We talked about us and my place in the family mostly. You just came up in passing when I pushed him about any other concerns he had about me being here,” Dean said. 

“Your place in the family? You mean with Hel?” Sam asked. 

“And you. He made it clear that even if Hel and I don’t work out, I’m still your brother so I’m still family. It was a very reasonable talk. We worked out all our old issues and we’re all good now,” Dean told him, not really wanting to go into detail. 

“So you’re really good with all this? Really?” Sam asked pointedly. 

“I’m getting there. It’s gonna take some getting used to though Sam. You know that. You know how we were raised. I can’t just throw it all out the window at the drop of a hat. Deep down some part of me still sees them as monsters, but it’s deep down and I’ll get past it. I can see that they’re not really, and eventually even my subconscious will realize that,” Dean said bluntly. 

Sam could understand that. It took him a little while to get past that too and it wasn’t quite as deep in him as it was in Dean. He thought he would share some of his expertise on the subject though. “The kids help. Seeing them use their powers so freely and it’s all but impossible to see them as anything other than pure. From there it’s pretty easy to get over it.”

“Yeah. That does help. They’re great kids. Even if I did have to take my pendant off and hide it from Nari,” he joked partially to make sure that Sam didn’t think anything bad about him not wearing it. 

Sam laughed. “Yeah she does tend to enjoy small sparkly objects.”

“Speaking of babies…how is that working with you and Loki?” Dean asked. He had been curious last night but didn’t want to bring it up in front of everyone. 

“In his words, ‘changing a little plumbing around is child’s play to a god’.”

“So he’s…pregnant?” Dean asked.

“Yeah. You okay with that?” Sam asked worriedly. It was just another reminder that Loki wasn’t human not to mention having a baby with a god was a bigger step than being married to one.

“It’ll take a little while to wrap my head around, but yeah. I will be,” Dean told him. “So in nine months you’ll be a dad?” he asked with a smile this time. 

“Maybe more than nine, but yeah,” Sam said with his own smile. It dawned on him that Dean may not know yet of the differences with god children and since he was essentially helping to raise Narfi and Nari not to mention would have to deal with his niece or nephew, he should probably know so Sam explained. 

“So you’re saying Narfi and Nari will be a year old for a few years?” he asked incredulously. 

“Essentially.”

“That’s…um…” Dean looked a little dumbfounded for a minute before he broke out in a grin. “Okay. Yeah. That works. Then I won’t feel like I’ve missed as much.”

“You really do love her don’t you?” Sam asked finally getting an idea of just how deep it went. 

“Yeah. I really do. She might just be the one,” Dean told him. “Now before I start getting all sappy here, let’s go join everyone in the pool.” 

Sam laughed and just rolled his eyes as they headed out to the pool. They changed into their swim trunks in the changing area and Dean hopped in and retrieved Nari from Hel, not wanting to brave Jormungandr to get to Narfi. Soon Sam and Fenrir had Hati and Skoll on their shoulders playing chicken, Jormy had relinquished Narfi to Hel and joined his father lounging at the edge of the pool watching everyone play. “So change can be for the better you say?” he asked with a rare smile. 

“Most definitely,” Loki said reaching over to ruffle his younger son’s hair.


	5. Chapter 5

Over the next few weeks, Hela went back and forth to Helheim, always taking the babies with her. People enjoyed seeing them around the castle after all. She spent most evenings and nights with Dean though. The hunter had been there for almost a month before a situation came up. “I need to handle some rather delicate business in Helheim. I’ll probably be gone for a few days. Maybe even a week.”

“Everything ok?” Dean asked. 

“It will be. The giants and the fae are talking war again. We just need to hammer out a new peace treaty,” Hel told him. 

“You’re not taking the babies are you?” Dean asked hoping that she wasn’t going to be taking them into a potential war zone. 

“No. I usually leave them with dad when this stuff comes up,” she told him. 

“I’ll take care of them,” Dean offered. 

Hel did a double take at him. Sure he was more than helpful, but he had never really been alone with them for more than a few minutes, and he knew how much of a handful they were, especially as their powers had been getting stronger. “Are you sure? I mean…their powers…”

“I can handle it, and if something comes up that I can’t handle, I have plenty of help right through that door,” Dean assured her. When she still seemed hesitant he took her hands in his and said seriously. “Let me show you that I can do this. Please.”

“Okay. If you’re sure. If you need help…”

“I’ll get it. I promise,” Dean told her and kissed her deeply. “Don’t worry about a thing besides your peace treaty.” 

She had only been gone for about half an hour before the first alarm went off signaling that one of the twins had teleported out of the crib. It was followed by the second one just a second later. Dean went into the nursery and grabbed them, bringing them back out to the kitchen for their mid-afternoon snack. By the time he got them to bed that night he was exhausted and barely managed to stay awake long enough to clean up the mess they had made before he followed them into slumber. He had been hard-pressed to keep up with both of them. He had just let them play for the most part but he would swear they timed their mischief deliberately. When Narfi would start pulling the books off the shelves, Dean would go to stop him only to turn around and find that Nari had taken the opportunity while he was distracted to climb up onto the coffee table. And that wasn’t even counting the rousing game of hide and seek they played when they realized they could teleport through doors. Thankfully they had to be right next to the door to manage it, but if Dean turned his head and didn’t see what door they went through he had to search. He had made it through the day though. Well, the half a day at least. 

The next morning, they were having breakfast, Narfi and Nari sitting in their high chairs when there was a knock at the door from the main house. Dean didn’t take his eyes off them as he walked to the door and opened it, letting Sam in before he headed back to the table. “Heya Sammy. What’s up?” Dean asked as he stopped Nari from putting any more food in her mouth before she finished what was already in there. 

“Well, Hela told us that you were keeping the babies while she was away and since no one had heard from you, I was dispatched to make sure everyone was still alive,” he joked. 

“I can do this,” Dean said irritated. 

“Oh come on, Dean,” Sam rolled his eyes. “It has nothing to do with doubting you. They are a handful. All twin god babies are. One person taking care of them is always difficult at this age, much less a human without powers to match theirs. I’ve never even taken care of them alone for more than a couple hours.”

“I’m fine,” Dean snapped. 

“What’s the big deal? Why does this matter so much to you?” Sam asked. 

“If I’m gonna be with Hela, then I need to prove that I can be her partner. Especially in this,” Dean said firmly. 

Sam got it. He felt inferior because he didn’t have any powers and wanted to prove to her and himself that it didn’t matter. He could still be a dad to her kids. Sam was very familiar with that feeling. He’d had the same worries. “Did you know that when Hati and Skoll lost their mother, Fenrir lived with Loki until they were the human equivalent of five years old? The only reason Hel doesn’t is because she has Helheim and when she’s not here she’s usually in the castle where she has no shortage of help. The only person who has ever kept them alone for more than a few hours is Loki and I think we can all agree that he’s a special case.”

“I get what you’re saying, Sam, but I still need to do this,” Dean said refusing to budge from his stance. 

“Okay. If you’re sure,” Sam said with a sigh. “We’ll check in once or twice a day though, just to make sure you’re doing okay.”

“I’ll be fine,” Dean said again. 

“I know. But Loki is on pins and needles. There aren’t very many people he trusts with his grandkids, and if it were anyone else he would have stormed in here and took over by now, and the fact that he hasn’t says a lot about how much he trusts you, but at least let me help him feel better by checking in occasionally.”

“Fine,” Dean said in defeat. 

“Okay. Thank you,” he said and leaned down to kiss each of the babies’ heads before he left with a parting, “Just don’t hesitate if you do need help.” 

Dean, once again, made it through the day. He loved those little rascals but they were definitely difficult to handle. He could see the wisdom of having help. At least one adult per baby would make a huge difference, and maybe next time he would accept help. He just needed to prove that he could handle it first. That thought flew right out of his head the next morning when he woke up on his own, rather than with the sound of the crib alarms. He rushed to the nursery to look in on them and make sure they were okay and he hadn’t just slept through the alarms to find that there were no babies in the crib, but there were two tiny animals there. 

He barreled through the apartment and into the main house yelling for Loki who immediately appeared at his side, and when Dean said, “The babies…” that was all he needed to get out for Loki to disappear again. Dean ran back to the nursery to find Loki standing there over the crib cooing at the little animals. “I don’t know what happened. They were fine when I went to bed. And then I woke up and they were…well…”

“They’re hedgehogs,” Loki said fondly. “Shapeshifters. Like Fenrir, Jormy, and the boys. We weren’t sure if they would be since Hela isn’t.” 

Now that Loki had said it, it seemed obvious and Dean felt a little ridiculous for panicking, especially when the rest of the household poured into the room, just as alarmed by Dean’s yelling. When they saw them Jormy snickered quietly, but Fenrir gave his trademark barking laugh only to get smacked by Loki who ushered them all out of the room. Once they were back in the living room, Sam asked, “What was that?” He was just as confused as Dean had been without the terror of course. 

“They’re hedgehogs,” Fenrir said laughing. 

“That must have been a shock to wake up to,” Sam said looking at Dean. 

“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t think,” he said sheepishly. 

“Oh please. You should have seen me the first time I found a wolf pup sleeping in Fenny’s bed,” Loki waved him off. “I had no idea my kids could be shifters and I was half asleep at the time too. I nearly had an aneurism if gods were capable of such maladies,” Loki waved off the hunter’s apologies. 

“I was expecting it and I still freaked out with Hati and Skoll,” Fenrir told him. “You put babies to bed, you expect babies to wake up.” 

Dean had to admit that made him feel a lot better. At least he hadn’t made a fool of himself. “So what now? I mean it’s past breakfast time…”

“Let them sleep,” Loki told him. “The first change takes a lot out of them. I’ll get you some appropriate food for their new forms.”

“But they’ll be able to change back on their own?” Dean asked. 

“Sure. They probably won’t for a little while. They’ll be enamored with their new abilities and want to explore. Probably by tomorrow they’ll start going back and forth. They’ll also need to eat a little more than usual for a few weeks too as their bodies adjust,” Loki told him. He’d had to learn all this by trial and error. He’d helped Fenny when his kids turned out to be shapeshifters and he would happily help Dean too. He had to admit the fact that Dean had come to them immediately as soon as there was a problem made him feel a little better about leaving the babies with him. At least now he knew the stubborn hunter would ask for help if he needed it. 

“Oh Hel is gonna be so mad she missed it,” Jormy said with a chuckle. 

“I don’t know about that. She might be happy to miss the initial panic,” Fenrir said with a laugh. 

“What decides what animal they can turn into?” Sam asked curiously, wondering what, if anything, his own child would be. 

“We’re not sure. There is a relationship between personality and the animal they become, but since they turn so young there’s no real way to be sure if the animal affects the person or the person affects the animal,” Loki told him.


	6. Chapter 6

Hati and Skoll walked into the room about that time, rubbing their eyes. Their room was soundproofed so that while the rest of the house could hear them, they could hear nothing from inside their rooms, so they hadn’t been woken up by the panic. “What’s everyone doing in here?” one of them asked sleepily. 

Loki opened his mouth to speak before deciding that he would give the decision to Dean. He’d earned the right to make decisions for them, after all. “Can I tell them?” he asked Dean. 

Dean just blinked at him for a second, shocked that he would ask at all, much less him. “Yeah. Sure,” he said in a bit of a daze. What else could he say really. 

“Your cousins are hedgehogs,” Loki told them. 

“Cool!” Skoll exclaimed. 

“Wow! Can we play with them as animals!?” Hati asked excitedly. 

“I don’t see why not as long as you’re careful, just like when they’re people, but not today okay?” Loki said. “Well as long as it’s okay with their parents anyway,” he backtracked a bit. He was trying, but he was just used to making the decisions when Hel wasn’t here. 

Dean realized that he was no being placed in the same esteem as Hela, and while it scared him, he also loved it. He wondered what had changed though. Was it just that Hela had left them with him or the fact that he had taken care of them alone for so long, or just the way he reacted when he found them this morning or was it something else? Had Hela said something? He realized Loki was looking to him to add something and he considered the matter for a moment. Wolves playing with hedgehogs, on the surface, seemed like a very bad idea, but he trusted Loki not to let anything hurt any of the kids, so he added his own caveat. “As long as Loki is there, I don’t have a problem with it.” It went without saying that Hela could come back and say no, but none of them thought she would. 

Fenrir did have something to say though. “Why just dad?” he asked more curious than accusatory. 

“I would be more comfortable if, at least at first, someone who can heal was close by,” Dean said trying to make it clear that it wasn’t a slight against anyone, but he knew how sharp teeth and nails could be. “As much for Hati and Skoll as for Narfi and Nari. Those claws looked pretty sharp.” He would be more worried about them period if he didn’t know that as twin gods they couldn’t hurt each other, but they could hurt their cousins and vice versa. 

“Yeah. Good idea,” Fenrir admitted. He was surprised how well Dean was taking to this fatherhood thing. 

Loki gave him a nod of respect as he got up off the couch. “Come on. Let’s leave him to it. You know where we are if you need anything,” he said as he started ushering everyone towards the main house. 

“I’m gonna stick around for a bit if that’s okay,” Sam said looking at Dean who nodded. Loki leaned down and kissed him as he left. Once they were alone, Sam turned to Dean and asked, “You good with all this?” This was a little more blatant display of power than he was used to from the babies and they hadn’t talked about Dean’s ‘monster’ issues since the first time it was brought up. 

“Yeah. I’m good. I’ve seen Hati and Skoll become wolves often enough that it doesn’t bother me like that. I was just terrified that something had happened to them when I woke up and they were like that,” Dean told him, knowing exactly what he meant. “I’m really over that whole thing for the most part. I mean sometimes it still hits me, one of those ‘what the hell am I doing?’ moments, but it passes pretty quickly and doesn’t happen often. I’m good Sammy. Really.”

“So you gonna tell me why it’s so important to you to prove you can do this?” Sam asked. He had his suspicions and he was going to wait for Dean to come to him, but he just couldn’t hold it in any longer. 

Dean narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. It would be nice to talk to someone about it, and who better than Sam who had already been through it. “You can’t tell anyone. Not even Loki,” Dean said firmly. 

If Sam was right in his suspicions, he would have no problem keeping that secret from Loki, but he still felt the need to add a caveat just in case he was wrong. “As long as it’s nothing that will directly affect the rest of the family negatively I will keep the secret.”

Dean figured this news wouldn’t fall under that category so he said, “I’m thinking of asking Hela to bond with me.”

“That’s great!” Sam said excitedly. He noticed the look on Dean’s face though and asked, “Are you nervous?” 

“Of course I’m nervous! Why wouldn’t I be nervous?!” Dean said in a rather high-pitched voice. 

Sam tried his best not to laugh. He really did. He failed. “Sorry. Sorry. You’re right. It’s a big step. How much do you know about the bonding?” Sam asked wondering if it was something they had ever talked about it. 

“Just that it’s forever. No way out,” Dean said getting a little jittery now that he was talking about it. 

“Yeah, that’s pretty much the important part. You’ll stop aging and live forever too. At least as long as she does, but then when you do die you’ll go to Helheim with her so nothing will really change except that you won’t be able to leave. We’ll still be able to visit you there though. The bonding itself though…It’s the most amazing feeling in the world. I can’t even put it into words,” Sam said wistfully. 

“Will anything else change?” Dean asked. 

“Well your health will pretty much be perfect,” Sam told him. “And of course you’ll never be able to sleep with anyone else, but other than that, no.”

“Okay. That’s not so bad. So now I just need to worry about her saying no.”

“I don’t think she’ll say no. I think, worst case scenario she might say not yet, but she won’t say no,” Sam told him earnestly. 

“Well not yet is almost as bad as no,” Dean said morosely. 

“There are never any guarantees,” Sam pointed out. “If that’s what you want, you should ask her.”

“Did you ask Loki or did he ask you?” Dean asked curiously. 

“He asked me. And if it helps, he looked really nervous when he did,” Sam said with a chuckle. About that time the crib alarms started to go off. “I’ll leave you to it then. Loki left the food on the counter for you,” he pointed out, not sure if Dean had noticed. 

“Thanks Sam.”

“Anytime.” Sam let himself out as Dean headed into the nursery. 

 

When Sam got back into the main house, he saw Loki sitting on the couch. “Where’d everyone go?” 

“Fenny and the boys are out running with Blondie and Jormy’s sunning himself,” Loki told him. 

Sam sat down on the couch next to his bonded and pulled him into his arms, kissing him soundly. “Have I thanked you lately?” he asked cheerfully. 

“For?” Loki asked raising and amused eyebrow. 

“For being you. For bringing me here. For pushing past all my hang-ups. For loving me. For being such an amazing person. For giving me a family, both what we have now and what’s yet to come,” Sam listed off as he nuzzled Loki’s neck. 

“Mmm. That’s a lot to thank me for,” Loki said playfully. “Might take more than words to get the point across.”

“Oh really?” Sam asked getting in on the game. “What exactly did you have in mind?” He nipped Loki’s earlobe with the question. The next thing Sam knew they were in their bed, Loki straddling his waist as the trickster god kissed and nipped his way down Sam’s neck, unbuttoning his shirt as he went. Sam grinned and flipped them over. “I think I’m supposed to be the one thanking you here,” he said as he rolled his hips over Loki’s. Even after a year and a half, his lover never failed to get him hard at the drop of a hat.


	7. Chapter 7

Dean found that, while in most ways, taking care of two baby hedgehogs was much easier than two baby gods, the lack of diapers cancelled that out a little bit. It wasn’t so bad with Narfi. He’d just go wherever he happened to be. Nari on the other hand had a tendency to hide. Dean wondered if it was a boy/girl thing. He spent most of the day just watching them play in their new forms and making sure their food dishes stayed full. As Loki had suggested, they turned back into babies after they fell asleep for the night, and Dean tucked them into bed. 

He was feeding them lunch the next day when Hel returned. “How did everything go?” she asked curiously. 

“It went great,” Dean told her. “They discovered a new power and scared the bejesus out of me, but your dad helped,” he added with a laugh. 

“What ability?”

“Apparently they’re shapeshifters. Hedgehogs. I woke up to find two little animals after putting two babies to bed and kinda panicked a bit,” he said sheepishly. 

“Oh wow! I didn’t think they would end up being shapeshifters since I’m not and their father was human,” she told him. 

“Guess it’s dormant genes,” Dean said cheerfully with a shrug. “So how did everything go with you? Get your peace treaty and everything?” 

“Yeah. It went well. Every few hundred years they get their feathers ruffled about something or other. It would be so much easier if they would let me move them away from each other, but neither wants to give up their homes, which I suppose I can understand. Giants and fae have never gotten along very well.”

“Well if anyone can get them on the same page it’s you,” Dean said fondly as he kissed her. “If you wanna go let the rest of the family know you’re back I can finish feeding them and get them down for their nap.” 

“Okay. That sounds good. I’ll be back in a little bit,” she kissed him one more time as she headed into the main house to find that they had just finished their own lunch. 

“Hela! You’re back,” Loki wrapped her in a warm hug. 

“Yeah. I’m back. Thanks for helping Dean,” she told him. 

“Oh psh. The kid was a trooper. Only help I offered was a little reassurance and advice when they changed. He told you the news right?” 

“Yeah he did. But that was it?” Hel asked amazed. 

“Yeah. He didn’t even come hang out in the main house at all while you were gone,” Loki told her. 

“He wanted to prove he could handle it on his own,” Sam told her so she wouldn’t think it was just a matter of not wanting anyone else around. 

Hel rolled her eyes good-naturedly. Leave it to Dean Winchester to try and actually succeed at taking care of two baby gods. Her father had mentioned the propensity of Winchesters to do the impossible, but she had always assumed it was exaggeration. 

About that time they heard a cry and turned around to see Narfi crawling across the floor and Dean rushed through a few seconds later carrying Nari. “Sorry about that. Apparently he wants Mommy to put him down for his nap,” he said with a chuckle. 

“They can go through doors now?” Sam was the first to ask. 

“Yep. Figured that out a few days ago. They seem to really like playing hide and seek,” Dean told them and everyone laughed. Dean and Hel headed back to the apartment to put the babies down for a nap and no one expected to see them for the next few hours. 

Sam wondered if Dean was going to ask her today to bond with him, and something of his thoughts must have shown on his face since Loki pulled him aside and asked, “He wants to bond with her doesn’t he?” 

Sam smirked and said, “I can neither confirm nor deny that question.”

Loki smirked right back at him. That was as good as a yes as far he was concerned and it explained a lot. Mostly his stubborn determination to take care of the babies alone. He had considered the matter before, of course, especially when Dean first moved in, and he had to admit he liked the idea. It would be easier than bringing another person in, but he was concerned that Hela might accept for the wrong reasons, not to mention that Dean might be asking for the wrong reasons. He would wait until the announcement before airing his concerns though. 

 

Once the babies were asleep, Dean pulled Hela back to the living room and sat her down on the couch. His heart was about to beat out of his chest, but he needed to do this. He wanted this more than he’d ever wanted anything in his life. “Hela, I wanted to prove to you that I could do this, that I could be a dad to them, that I could be your partner,” he paused to get up the nerve to continue. 

“I never doubted any of that Dean,” she said gently reaching up to cup his cheek. 

“Well I did,” Dean said frankly. “But not anymore. I…I love you Hela…and I was hoping…maybe you would consider…um…bonding with me?” 

She froze for a moment and her eyes widened as she wondered if she had heard him correctly. When he started fidgeting uncomfortably and she noticed the fear in his eyes, she knew she had. “Yes, Dean. I would love to bond with you. But are you sure? I mean it’s a big step.”

“I’m sure. I already talked to Sam about what all it entails, so I know everything I need to know, and I know this is what I want,” Dean told her. He didn’t want her to think that he would change his mind once he found out more about it. 

“Then yes. You wanna go tell the family?” she asked hopefully. 

“Do we have to tell them first?” Dean asked nervously. He had hoped they could just do the bond and then spring it on them. 

“Yeah. We do. They deserve to know and Dad and Sam told us before they bonded so it’s only fair,” she pointed out. 

Dean swallowed heavily but nodded. He wanted to say that bonding with the only daughter of the trickster god and the only sister of two other powerful gods was a little different, but he would follow her lead. She led him back out to the main house to find Loki and Sam curled up together on the couch and no one else in sight. “Hey dad. You think you can get everyone together for a few minutes?” she asked. 

He narrowed his eyes curiously at her and Dean who was hovering behind her almost like he was trying to hide and he knew this was it. He considered making them tell him first before anyone else, but that wouldn’t be fair. She wanted to announce it to the whole family and he wouldn’t take that away from her. That wouldn’t stop him from sticking his nose in after the announcement though. He raised his fingers to his lips and Sam winced and covered his ears before the loud whistle rang out. Dean didn’t notice his brother’s reaction so was left with ringing ears as the living room filled up. Once everyone was settled and looking at Loki, he said, “Hela has something she wants to tell us.”

Dean seemed to shrink back even more as everyone’s attention turned to them. Hela just spoke without any trepidation at all. “Dean and I are going to bond.”

There was a rush of activity as Fenny, Sam, Hati and Skoll rushed them with hugs and congratulations. Jormy stayed sitting and raised an eyebrow at his father who had yet to move or speak. Loki was kind enough to wait until the ruckus died down before he walked over and slung an arm over Dean’s shoulders and said, “Come with me,” leading him back towards the lounge. 

Hela bit her lip and looked after them nervously and a little hurt that her father hadn’t seemed to take the news well. Sam saw that and pulled her into another hug. “Hey, it’ll be okay. You know your dad. He probably just wants to make sure no one is rushing into anything.”

“We’re not,” she said defensively. 

“I’m sure you’re not. Just give him a chance to make sure of that. You’re his only daughter. You can’t blame him for wanting to be careful,” Sam told her. 

“It’s my decision,” she pointed out. 

“Yes. It is. And on the off chance he’s still not supportive, I will remind him of that, but I don’t think you need to worry. He likes Dean. He likes Dean with you. He was very impressed with Dean’s handling of things while you were gone. Just give him his peace of mind hmm?” he urged gently. He could tell when she accepted that because she relaxed in his arms and returned his hug before going to sit on the couch, looking nervously back at the lounge door every few minutes.


	8. Chapter 8

As Dean was led into the lounge by Loki he found himself even more nervous than he had been while asking Hela to bond. The god couldn’t even be bothered to say anything and put Dean out of his misery as he just walked over to the bar and poured Dean a drink, pushing it over to him. “Have a seat,” Loki said, not betraying anything in his tone. Dean did so, unable to form words himself. “You realize that this is an eternal commitment?” Dean nodded. “As in, until the end of time, not just the end of your life. There is no till death do us part.” Dean nodded again. “You need to be absolutely, completely, a hundred and fifty percent sure of this.”

“I am. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life,” Dean managed to find the words. 

“So you’re completely over all your hang-ups about non-humans?” Loki asked pointedly. 

“As far as it relates to her and this family, yes. I don’t think I’ll ever stop seeing unknown non-humans suspiciously, but I think that’s normal. I still see most unknown humans suspiciously too,” Dean said honestly. “That doesn’t mean I’ll stop being surprised when something new jumps out at me, but it’s not like it’s an aggressive response or anything. Like when the babies woke up as hedgehogs. I was surprised, and scared that something was wrong with them, but at no point did the word monster even enter my head.” Dean needed to be sure that Loki understood this. That he wasn’t taking this lightly, or just brushing off the idea. 

“I just worry that you’re doing this for the wrong reasons. I mean, she is the only woman here, and you’re stuck in hiding with us for the rest of your natural life. I can understand wanting to extend your life so you can get back out in the world after all this is over. I can understand latching onto the only option.”

Dean forced himself not to get angry and defensive at the suggestion. He tried to keep in mind that this was Hela’s father and he had every right to ask these kinds of questions. “If I were just latching onto the only option, I could just leave things as they are. There’s no reason to move forward. She certainly hasn’t pushed the subject in any way. As far as extending my life, I’ve never seen any reason to live any longer than necessary. If I was so worried about dying I definitely wouldn’t have been a hunter. The idea of living out the rest of my life in peace and luxury is nice. I won’t miss the outside world. Well, I take that back, I miss Bobby, but he would be long gone by then anyway, so it wouldn’t matter. I’m not saying that won’t change someday, but even if it does it obviously has no bearing on my decision now. I want to bond with Hela because I love her. Because I want to be with her forever. Because I want a family with her. That’s it.” 

Loki narrowed his eyes at the hunter, scrutinizing him as he tried to see the truth of his words. “Good enough,” he said with a respectful nod. He wasn’t going to be congratulating anyone until he spoke with his daughter though. He left Dean with his drink as he walked back out into the living room.

 

Hel looked up as Loki walked in, taking note of the fact that he was alone, and cursing the fact that his face betrayed nothing of what went on. “Hela, come take a walk with me baby,” he said holding out an arm for her. Once they were outside, he started. “Are you sure about this?” 

“Of course I am,” she said somewhat defensively. 

“I mean really sure. Forget how lonely you’ve been. Forget the struggle of being a single mom. Forget that fact that we’re in hiding. Forget the fact that Dean is mortal. Forget everything. Is he really the one you want to be tied down to for the rest of eternity? You’re so young still. There’s still so much more out there.”

“I know I’m young, dad, but this is what I want. He is what I want. Can’t you just be happy for me?” she asked with tears welling up in her eyes. 

Loki stopped walking and put both his hands on her shoulders. “I’m just worried is all. This isn’t something you can take back and I want to make sure you’ve thought it through. If you have and you’re absolutely sure, then of course I’m happy for you. All I want is for you to be happy sweetheart. I just want to make sure that what makes you happy now isn’t going to make you miserable later.”

“It won’t. I know what I’m doing. I’ve thought about it a lot,” she said firmly. 

Loki pulled her into a hug. “Then I am happy for you,” he said warmly before turning to lead her back to the house. Everyone was still sitting in the living room waiting for the conclusion of the drama before going back to their day. Sam had considered going to check on Dean, but he would give it a little while. When Loki and Hel got back there was no need to though as Loki called Dean back out. He still had an arm wrapped around Hela’s shoulders and when Dean came out he pulled them both into a group hug and said, “Congratulations.” He let them both go and looked them over one more time before saying, “Now I’m guessing you two have a lot to discuss.” They nodded and headed back to their apartment with happy smiles as the rest of the group dispersed. 

Jormy and Fenrir started heading towards the pool with the kids, and Loki started to follow them, but Sam held him back and led him upstairs to their room. “Are you really okay with all this? Hela and Dean?” 

“It’s their lives. It’s not my place to interfere,” Loki told him. 

“That’s not what I asked,” Sam said pointedly. 

Loki sighed. “It’s not that I don’t like Dean. Or that I don’t like them together. It’s just…she’s so young…relatively speaking, and this is a permanent commitment. I just…I don’t want her to regret it later. She’s my only daughter and I feel like I’m losing her.”

“You could never lose her,” Sam told him pulling him into a hug. “She loves you, Lo. There’s an old human saying that seems appropriate here. You’re not losing a daughter. You’re gaining a son.”

“I know I’m being ridiculous,” Loki said sniffling. 

Sam couldn’t resist the smile that twitched onto his face as he rested his cheek against Loki’s head. Ever since he’d gotten pregnant he’d been far more emotional. “No. You’re being a dad. A wonderful dad. And who knows. Maybe soon you’ll have another daughter to spoil.”

“I really am lucky aren’t I?” Loki said burrowing further into Sam’s arms. 

“We both are,” Sam told him. They spent the rest of the afternoon proving to each other just how lucky they were. 

 

Back down in the pool, Hati and Skoll got their own game going so Fenrir swam over to where Jormungandr was lounging against the side watching. “You didn’t seem too happy about Dean and Hel?” 

“I’m not. I mean, really. Binding herself forever to a human? Dad was bad enough, but at least he’s been alive since before time began and he lived for tens of thousands of years among humans so he knew what he was getting himself into, but Hela? She’s never been around humans much. She doesn’t realize how quickly they get bored with things…and people. She’s barely more than a kid. I know I could never imagine making a permanent commitment like that and I’m older than she is.”

“You know Hela’s always been more mature than both of us, Jormy. Maybe she is ready. She sure thinks she is. Dean isn’t exactly a normal human any more than Sam is. And maybe she is making a mistake, but it’s her mistake to make. She’s happy so we should be happy for her and if and when that changes we deal with it then,” Fenrir told him. 

“I still don’t like it,” Jormy said petulantly. 

“Then it’s a good thing you’re not the one bonding with him,” Fenny teased splashing his little brother before swimming away, Jormy in hot pursuit. 

 

Dean and Hela bonded that night after putting the kids to bed and the next morning, Loki made an offer. “We can keep the babies for a little while if you want some honeymoonish time.”

Dean and Hel looked at each other for a moment before agreeing. “I would like to see Helheim now that I can,” Dean suggested so they decided to take a one week vacation to her kingdom.


	9. Chapter 9

Over the next few months, things were peaceful. Loki was showing his pregnancy, everyone loved to feel the baby or babies kick, but Sam was always there. He almost always had at least one hand on Loki’s stomach. Sam decided that he didn’t really want to know what or how many there were so Loki wasn’t looking. That was the way he preferred it anyway. Narfi and Nari were now toddling around and could even say a few words. Dean grinned for days the first time one of them called him Dada. Hati and Skoll, also on an aging break, loved to play in animal form with the little ones and there hadn’t been any incidents with it so all the adults, even Dean, were much more relaxed about the situation. Dean and Hela went back and forth between the big house with everyone and Helheim. Jormy did the same, but Fenrir and his boys always stayed with Loki and Sam. He wasn’t a big fan of Helheim. It was far too dreary for his taste. 

It happened on a day that everyone was in attendance. Loki had felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing up for a few hours. He felt like he was being watched, but he just put it out of his head. He always had a tendency to get paranoid when he was expecting, whether he was the only carrying the baby or not, and it had been even more prominent this time since they were all technically being hunted, even if they were well hidden. It turned out he should have listened to the feeling this time though. 

Hati and Skoll were laid out on the floor with Narfi and Nari teaching them the baby version of raske lys with only five large buttons that moved far slower than the real version while the adults were sitting around alternating between calling instructions to them, watching television, and chatting. Sam got up to go to the kitchen for drink and suddenly felt a blade at his throat and all hell broke loose. Dean and Hela had been at the back of the room and closest to the children so Dean grabbed both the babies while Hela grabbed Hati and Skoll’s hands and yanked them up behind her. Dean turned to hand them each a baby so he could get in the fight that was raging, but no sooner than the boys had the babies, Dean felt a yank on his shoulder and Hela flew into action. Dean was just frozen as his jaw dropped. She was moving so fast she barely looked like more than a blur. It was a hard thing for him to take when he realized that he would be more of a hindrance than a help in this fight. It went against every instinct he had to sit it out, but someone had to keep the kids out of the line of fire. 

Dean looked around the room to see Loki and Fenrir fighting like mad to get to Sam who was still standing there, completely still unable to move for the blade in his throat that was already drawing small amounts of blood. Hela and Jormy were fighting the ones that were coming for either him or the kids, and then as quickly as it began, it ended. All of the enemy were gone, but so was Sam and Loki hit general mode. “Fenny, Jormy, and Hela go after him. Don’t forget your armor and blades. Take an extra for Sam. Dean you stay here and help me protect the kids and try to figure out how they found us. We’ll be moving from here very soon, but you all will be able to find me. Now go!”

Once they left Loki turned to Dean. “I need to see everything you brought here. They had to have tracked us somehow and I’ve already been through all Sam’s stuff.”

“You’re blaming this on me?!” Dean exclaimed. Part of him knew that he was being far too touchy, but watching his wife go off into battle without him, after realizing just how useless he was in those situations was already eating at him. 

“We don’t have time for your bullshit, Dean. For all I know they are waiting until all the fighters leave and then coming back. We need to go,” Loki snapped. He was even more on edge. Not only was he blaming himself for not listening to that niggling feeling he had, but the father of his child was missing and he was in the same situation as Dean, unable to fight and had just sent all of his children out there too. Not to mention being six months pregnant didn’t exactly put him in the most reasonable of mindsets to begin with. 

“All I brought was what I was wearing,” Dean pointed out. 

“Let’s go. Let me see all of it,” Loki stalked towards Dean’s apartment leaving the hunter to follow behind, Hati and Skoll following them with the babies. They were terrified and on the verge of tears, but were trying to be strong for their cousins. The realized that no one had time to comfort them right now anyway, so they just tried to stay out of the way, while still staying as close as possible. They got to Dean’s room and he dug in his drawers for a moment pulling out the clothes he was wearing when he got here and he tossed them to Loki who ruffled through them for a moment before tossing them aside. “That’s everything?” he asked. 

“Yeah. It…oh wait. My pendant. I took it off so Nari would stop chewing on it,” Dean said as he opened his bedside table and pulled it out handing it to Loki who took one look at it and chucked it at the wall. 

“Damn it!” he yelled. “That’s a heavenly pendant. That’s how they found us. It stays. Let’s go,” Loki said motioning Dean to grab one of the kids’ hands and he grabbed the other and put his hand on Dean’s shoulder and flew them all out of there. 

Part of Dean wanted to argue. That necklace had been a gift from his brother when they were kids. He’d had it most of his life, but he knew better. Gift or not, if it was putting him family in danger it had to go. Maybe once everything calmed down he could get Loki to make him a replica. One they couldn’t track. 

When they landed, it was pitch black for a moment before Dean could suddenly see the place growing around him. It seemed a lot smaller than the place they had just left, but it had couches and a few toys for the kids, but that was about it. Loki didn’t make any other rooms and once this one was done he collapsed on the couch and fought off his own tears as he suddenly had a lap full of crying little boys, Dean having taken the babies while the room was taking shape. 

Dean sat down himself, bouncing a baby on each knee, and respecting the silence of the room as Loki just held Hati and Skoll tightly as they cried. Thankfully Narfi and Nari seemed oblivious to most of what was going on. Dean couldn’t be silent for long though. “I’m sorry, Loki. I didn’t know…”

“I know you didn’t. It’s not your fault. I should have been more vigilant,” Loki told him. 

“It’s not your fault either,” Dean felt obliged to say. 

“Yes. It is.”

Dean wasn’t going to get into an argument over it so he just let it be and changed the subject. “Is this one room all there is?” he asked curiously, trying to get Loki’s mind off of things and explaining things to the clueless human usually helped. 

“Yeah. Once the others get back they can help build on, but right now, too much of my power is going to the baby and creating this dimension and this one room has me nearly wiped out,” Loki told him. “I did manage a bathroom too though if you need it.”

“But you’re okay right? You didn’t do too much. You’re good and the baby is good?” Dean asked worriedly. 

“Yeah. Just wiped. It’ll probably be a few days before I’m built back up enough to do much.” Thankfully it was late evening and they had all had dinner already so they wouldn’t have to worry about food or anything until the morning and hopefully the others would be back by then. Dean was smart enough not to ask what happened if they didn’t come back. It didn’t take long before Hati and Skoll had cried themselves to sleep and Dean put the babies down for a minute as he helped an exhausted Loki settle them down on either end of the long couch. Once they were settled, Loki grabbed the nearest baby, just needing someone to hold and care for, while Dean grabbed the other baby. The hunter stretched out in the armchair leaving the loveseat for the pregnant one, and Loki sank gratefully into it, shifting Nari so that she was leaning against the back of the loveseat and wouldn’t fall. All of them were asleep in minutes, except for Dean. He just sat there holding his sleeping son and worrying about everyone else. In a way he was glad that Loki had worn himself out so much. If he hadn’t he would be just as awake and worried as Dean, and he didn’t need that in his condition. That baby Loki was carrying might just be all he had left of his brother, and he would protect them with his life just as he would the rest of them.


	10. Chapter 10

The attacking angels were definitely trying to cover their tracks, but since it had taken less than a minute for Fenrir to get his armor ready and even less time for the rest, they weren’t far behind. Their teleportation was just as fast as the angels could fly so they were following the trail. It was hours before it finally stopped, and they weren’t sure whether they just thought they lost them or of they decided to make a stand. Either way, they did the only thing they could do and attacked and this time they had weapons, unlike when they had been attacked in their own home and had to make due with hand to hand combat and powers that would only hurt and not kill. This time they were taking no prisoners. 

Hel went for Sam first to get him out of there, just like the last time, but apparently they were expecting that because Sam was surrounded by five of them who set on her immediately. She was able to throw Sam a spare blade at least so that he could protect himself until someone could get to him. Between his usual hunter reflexes and the little bit that raske lys had added, he was about as fast as the human body was capable of, which was pretty slow in this company, but since no one saw him as a threat, they weren’t paying much attention and he was able to get a few cheap shots in. He was essentially working the same angle that Jormungandr was, striking from the shadows when they were distracted by either Hel’s or Fenrir’s frontal assault. 

The difference between Sam and Jormungandr’s attacks was that the snake god could teleport. He was watching the whole room and any opponent that seemed to be getting the upper hand got run through. The angels weren’t used to fighting close combat like this and so, despite their numbers, they were losing. They may be warriors, but all of their training was carefully choreographed and they were fighting opponents that went through the same training. They were lost with people who had trained well and also had real world experience. 

Sam was picking an angel off Hela, and missed the blow that was headed for his back. Jormy didn’t miss it though, but it was too late to stop the blow from hitting so the snake god transported himself behind Sam and ran the angel through at the same time he was. His scream of pain caused Sam to turn in time to catch him and yell his name in anguish as he saw the dead eyes staring back at him. Fenrir and Hela fought with new desperation and thankfully there were only a few opponents left, because Sam was a sitting duck, just frozen in place as he clutched Jormy’s body to his chest. 

 

Loki only slept for a few hours before he woke up to see Dean pacing the room, still sleeping Narfi on his shoulder. Loki sat up, shifting Nari with him who stirred a bit, but didn’t wake. “You need to rest, Dean.”

“Easier said than done,” Dean whispered back. 

“I know,” Loki sighed. He doubted he was going to get any more sleep either, whether Dean was up or not. He’d slept enough to take the edge of his exhaustion and now the worry was just too much to even try. “Here bring that chair over behind the couch,” Loki had an idea. He could imagine that the hunter’s arms were tired by now. Dean did as he was told and then they pushed the couch back a little bit wedging the chair between it and the wall so the babies couldn’t push the chair back before setting them in the little makeshift crib. Loki didn’t have the energy to pace too, so he just sank back down onto the loveseat and put his head in his hands. 

He didn’t have much time to get comfortable though because before he knew it the room was suddenly filled with his children and his bonded. They were all bleeding from multiple cuts, but Loki’s eyes were drawn by the body that Sam was carrying. He jumped up and Sam put Jormy’s body on the couch and Loki fell to his knees beside it. “Jormy no!!” He took his son’s hand and let his head fall forward to the fallen god’s chest as he sobbed. Sam knelt beside him and placed one hand on Jormy’s head as his other arm wrapped around his lover and he rested his forehead on Loki’s hunched shoulder. 

Loki’s cry had woken Hati and Skoll, and Fenrir quickly grabbed them up and faced them away from their uncle’s body and Hela collapsed into her husband’s arms. Even Dean had silent tears streaming down his face as the family mourned. He would never be as glad as he was in this moment that the babies could sleep through an explosion. He didn’t think he could take that too on top of everything else. 

It was a long time before the first words were spoken over the sobs, and they came from Sam. “He…he saved me. That blade…it was coming for me. I didn’t see it…it was…coming from behind but…but Jormy did…he…put himself right in its path to…to save me.” 

Loki reached a hand up blindly to rest on Sam’s head. “He died protecting his family. It’s…it’s how he would’ve wanted to go,” he choked out. 

“I’m so sorry…if I had been paying more attention…if I had noticed…”

“Stop it,” Fenrir said firmly but without any heat. “I saw you out there. You did more than could ever have been expected of you. It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. There were just so many…” Fenrir choked on his words unable to continue, but Hel picked up the slack. 

“He saved us all. Many times. And so did you Sam. You had your back to him because you were stopping someone from killing me. Don’t blame yourself for that.” Dean’s arms tightened around Hela at the mention of how close she had come to death, though he supposed all of them had been closer than anyone would have liked. 

It was a few more minutes of silence before Loki lifted his head. “We can’t just stay here like this,” he said as he started to get up and Sam reached over to support him, knowing that his balance was off with his protruding stomach. “We need to get him somewhere…AAARGH!” Loki crumbled forward grabbing his midsection. Sam caught him initially only to find Dean and Hela there for support a second later. 

“What’s going on? Are you okay? What’s happening?” Sam asked frantically. 

Hela put a hand on his forehead and closed her eyes for a second before she snapped, “Fenny, come help me!” as they laid him out on the floor. Sam and Dean found themselves shoved out of the way as Fenrir went to his knees on the other side of Loki and Sam was still frantically asking questions. “Not now!” Hel snapped as she and Fenrir each took one of their father’s hands and put their other hand on his forehead overlapping in the middle. 

There was a glow coming from them, and after a moment Fenrir said, “Kids, come help please.” As they walked over Fenrir directed them, “Just put your hands on top of ours on his head and channel your power through them.”

Dean was holding onto Sam, ostensibly to hold him back, but Sam wasn’t fighting him. He didn’t know what was going on, but he knew they were trying to help and he didn’t want to interrupt whatever they were doing. After a few minutes, he and Dean did step forward to catch Hati and Skoll as they lost consciousness before they hit the floor. They got them settled back on the same couch they had vacated when the others arrived and stood back to watch as Fenrir and Hela kept going. In reality it was only a few more minutes before they stopped and sat down panting, though it had felt like a lifetime to Sam. 

“He’s stable now and so is the baby. He’ll probably sleep for at least a few hours, maybe more and he needs to stay in bed and not use any powers at all for at least a week,” Hel told them. 

“What happened? Will they be okay?” Sam asked. 

“As long as he’s careful for the next week they should be fine. Apparently he was so low on power that the massive influx of grief caused it to…short out I guess is the best term for it, so both he and the baby were starving for it. We gave him as much as we could spare and he should replenish on his own now, but if not, we’ll handle that when the time comes.”

“Handle it how?” Sam asked brokenly. He didn’t know how much more he could take right now. 

“By giving him more, either ourselves or finding other gods who would be willing to help. We will not lose him, or this baby, Sam. I promise you that. We won’t let it happen,” Fenrir said determinedly.


	11. Chapter 11

“I’m sorry. I didn’t even think to warn you that he was super low on power. He said creating this dimension and what little he did of this house drained him. He said he was fine though, and the baby was fine. He just needed rest,” Dean babbled. 

“It’s okay Dean. Even if we had known there was nothing else we could have done,” Hela assured him. “We can’t stay here though. Fenny and I are too low to keep building right now, and I want to save whatever power we can for Dad in case he needs it. We should all go to Helheim for now,” she suggested. 

Fenrir groaned but didn’t argue. “Why didn’t we just do that to begin with then, rather than him trying to create a new dimension?” Dean asked more curious than accusing. 

“Because he wouldn’t have been able to get in without me. I expected him to go to one of his warded safe-houses in the earthly dimension, but I guess he felt they weren’t safe enough.” Dean nodded. That made sense. He still thought it might have been better to go with one of the safe-houses in hindsight but then hindsight was always twenty-twenty. “I’ll go first with Dean and the babies, Fenny, you bring Hati and Skoll then come back for Dad and Sam, and…and Jormy,” Hela told him as she finally got up, allowing Sam to take her place at Loki’s side. 

Dean helped Fenrir get both of the boys in his arms, heads on his shoulders and Fenrir explained that they were fine. Just drained. It wasn’t dangerous for them, but they would be a little groggy for a few days once they woke up. It took a little while before Fenrir returned, taking some time to get the kids settled in. Hela would meet him at the gates with the others. When he got back, Sam picked up Loki and Fenrir carried his brother as they reappeared at the gates and Sam got his first look at Helheim. Hela had emptied the castle of everyone except a skeleton crew of staff, so it seemed almost deserted as they headed down the hallway. Hela pointed out a room for Fenrir to take their fallen brother and led Sam and Loki to the next to last room on the hall. “Fenrir and I are going to take turns sitting with you and watching over him,” she told Sam as she sat on the chair next to the bed as Sam laid down next to Loki and leaned over him, carding his hand through his bonded’s hair as the other hand rested on Loki’s stomach. 

Sam would never forget the wave of relief that washed over him as he felt his child’s kick. “It’s okay, Lo. Everything will be okay. I can feel the baby. It’s still strong. You’ll both be fine,” he whispered to his sleeping lover.

Hel wasn’t so sure about the whole talking to someone who was unconscious thing, but it seemed to make Sam feel better so she joined in. “That’s right Dad. Don’t worry about a thing. We’ll take care of you. We’ll take care of everything.”

Sam was exhausted, but he couldn’t sleep. He wouldn’t be able to sleep until Loki woke up and told him himself that everything would be okay. He didn’t think he would be able to close his eyes without seeing Jormy’s dead body staring up at him anyway. A few hours later, Hela was starting to drift. She was losing the battle to stay awake, but she hadn’t let go of her father’s hand. She would be able to feel if his power levels got to low that way. Just when she seemed like she was done for, Fenrir walked in. “I got it from here, Hela. I moved all the kids in the same room, and when they wake up, let Dean take care of them. You just get some rest.” She nodded gratefully and shuffled out of the room as Fenrir took her place. “You should rest too,” he told Sam gently. 

“I can’t,” Sam said wearily. 

“Do me a favor and just try? You know Dad’ll kill me if he wakes up and we haven’t been taking care of you,” he joked somberly. 

“If you’ll answer a question for me,” Sam bargained. He knew it was a bad time, but he needed to know. Fenrir nodded and gestured for him to ask his question. “I know this is a sensitive subject, but…well…wouldn’t Jormy be here in Helheim if he died?”

Fenrir sighed sadly. He really didn’t want to talk about it, but Sam did need to know. Sam had loved him too. He fastened his gaze out the window and spoke with a faraway look in his eye. “He took an angel blade to the heart. Angel blades do more than kill. They destroy the very essence of being. Anywhere else and there may have been a chance. I would depend on whether his body or his spirit died first, but the heart…the heart is the center. His spirit is gone.” He turned back to Sam, meeting his watery eyes, as he said, “Now rest, Sam.”

Sam swallowed around the lump in his throat, blinking the tears from his eyes as he lay down, resting his head on Loki’s chest and leaving his hand splayed over his stomach. The next thing he knew, Loki was stirring and Hela was back next to him again. “How long?” he muttered sleepily. 

“About seven hours,” she told him correctly interpreting his question as how long he had been asleep. Sam propped back up on his elbow, watching as Loki slowly woke. “I’ll leave you alone. His power levels are fine now and he’ll know if they get too low again,” she whispered as she slipped from the room just as Loki opened his eyes. 

Sam leaned down and kissed him desperately. “I was so worried.”

“Sorry Samshine. Didn’t mean to worry you,” Loki said with a half-smile. “What happened?”

“You collapsed. Hela, Fenny, Hati and Skoll funneled power to you to save you and the baby and you need to stay in bed for a week and no using your powers while they build back up,” Sam told him. 

Loki looked away as he felt his eyes filling with tears with the return of his memories. “Jormy…”

“I’m so sorry Lo,” Sam said sadly. 

“I can’t stay in bed for a week. We need to…to…” he couldn’t finish. 

“We will wait until you’re up and around again before we lay him to rest. We wouldn’t even think of doing it without you,” Sam assured him. “Right now you just need to focus on getting you and the baby well.”

“Yeah. You’re right. I’m sorry, Sam. I should have been more careful. I should have taken us somewhere else. I just…I was so worried. I’m sure one of my safe-houses would have been safe enough but I didn’t want to take the chance, so I drove myself too hard and then…when Jormy…I just couldn’t…”

“Hey, shhh. It’s okay. Everything’s fine. You’re fine. The baby is fine. You took a calculated risk. We don’t know what might have happened if you had gone to a safe-house. It may have been even worse. There’s no use dealing in what ifs.”

“I sent them after you, Sam. I didn’t even hesitate before throwing my children into a fight to the death…”

“If you think you could have stopped us you’re crazy old man,” a gruff voice said from the doorway as Fenrir stepped in. “We were going whether you asked us to or not. Losing Sam wasn’t an option, and Jormy went down fighting for his family. Like you said, it’s what he would have wanted. None of us could have lived with just abandoning Sam to die.” 

“Still…”

“Still nothing. We did what needed to be done. Yes, the cost was high. Too high. But doing nothing would have been worse and you know it. Or are you saying that you would rather we didn’t go?” he asked pointedly. He had to snap his father out of this funk and fast before it put a rift between he and Sam that they couldn’t come back from. 

“No! I couldn’t…I could never lose Sam, but…but Jormy…”

“Had a fighting chance, which was more than Sam had by himself. He made his choice and trying to take the blame on yourself dishonors that choice…and that goes for all of us,” he said firmly. “There’s plenty of blame to go around, but we have to let it go before it tears us all apart.” He wiped the tears from his eyes and continued staring both of them down before they nodded and he could see that they understood. “Good. Now that’s over. Hela wanted me to remind you that if you feel your power getting too low to send for one of us. We have a few people on standby if needed if Hela and I aren’t enough to help.”

“Thank you, Fenny, but I don’t think it’ll be necessary. I can feel my own reserves replenishing,” Loki told him. 

“Okay, good. Just remember that just in case that changes,” Fenrir said, leaving them alone again.

Loki turned to Sam, “I never meant to imply that I would be okay with trading your life for Jormy’s. Please tell me you know that.”

“I know, Loki. I never thought you would be,” Sam said honestly leaning down to kiss his bonded. “Do you need anything?”

“Just you,” Loki said wrapping himself in Sam’s arms. He could survive this as long as he had Sam.


	12. Chapter 12

The next week went by very slowly for all of them. Loki was never one to sit still for very long and found himself horribly bored. Hati and Skoll were frequent visitors, essentially from the moment they woke up half a day after Loki did. The second their eyes opened they were asking about him so Fenrir took them to see him and it cheered them all up immensely. It was a couple days before Sam left Loki’s side, and even then it was only because he’d told him to go take a shower before the smell knocked him out again. 

On his way back after showering and grabbing a real meal, he passed by the room where Jormy’s body was waiting. He hesitated a moment before he stepped inside and sat down next to the bed. He took his stepson’s hand and said, “I’m so sorry, Jormy. I wish you were still here with us. We all miss you so much. Your Dad especially. Thank you seems wholly inadequate, but I don’t know what else to say, so thank you for saving me. I just wish you could have saved yourself too, but thanks to you I get to see my child born, and see him or her grow up. I think naming him or her after you would be in bad taste, but I promise we will honor you somehow in the name. Thank you for letting me know you. You were a gift in my life and in this family and we are all the poorer for your loss. I’m sorry, Jormy. I love you.” Sam sat there for a few more minutes letting himself mourn since his initial mourning had been cut short by the emergency with Loki and the baby, before he wiped his tears and got up to go back to his room. 

When Sam got back, Dean and Hela were there with him and Loki had a baby cuddled to each side of him and Sam gave a sad smile. Life goes on. They had lost one, but they still had so much. They could make it through this. They would make it through this. 

A few days later, Loki was back to normal and there was no reason for him to stay in bed anymore. He was even stronger than he had been before all this happened, thanks to the extra channels that had been opened up when the others had flooded him with power. Now that Loki was up they could lay Jormungandr to rest. It was fitting that he had enjoyed Helheim so much, partially because they couldn’t risk going anywhere else to do this. They held a short ceremony underneath the tree in the courtyard where he always went to read. He lay atop a marble altar as his family all spoke of their favorite memories of him. They ended up speaking for hours, and even Dean had a few stories to share. They could have kept going forever, but they all knew that it was time for it to end. Loki laid his hand on his youngest son’s forehead and his body turned to ash as Hela raised her outstretched hand and the wind whipped up to scatter him across the breadth of the land. 

That done, the others started to head back to the castle, but Loki just turned and sat on the nearby bench, looking longingly at the altar. Sam hung back and walked over to him, placing a hand on Loki’s shoulder. “I’m okay Sam. Just give me a little time here?” 

“Okay,” Sam said gently. “Just come inside when you’re ready.” He pressed a kiss to Loki’s forehead and headed back inside. 

As Loki sat there thinking about his son, his thoughts soon turned to how he died. His son had been killed by one of his brothers. Hadn’t they taken enough from him? They had to take this too? His grief turned to anger and quickly became a white hot rage. He wasn’t even thinking as he called his armor and his blade to him and disappeared from the courtyard. 

 

Gabriel appeared directly in Michael’s office and the eldest archangel barely had a chance to look up from his desk before he was slammed against the wall with an archangel blade against his throat. “Gabriel…what…”

“Shut up!” Loki said, wild glint in his eye as his anger rolled off him. “You have my grandson kidnapped and tortured, a CHILD! You traumatize him and his brother. You kidnap and nearly kill my bonded. You kill my son. MY SON! I nearly lost the child I’m carrying! I made sure not to pass any of my grace onto my children. They are no threat to you! All we want is to be left alone! I tell you this Michael, you or yours come after my family again I will mobilize the pagans. All of them. You may have the power but we have the numbers in spades and we will raze your entire fucking kingdom to the ground. Stay away from my family, Michael. This is your final warning,” he snarled and disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. 

Michael slumped to the ground in shock, massaging his neck and wiping away the traces of blood there. The last he knew Gabriel had been dead for millennia. What was all that about coming after his family. Kidnapping and torturing and killing children. He knew nothing about any of that. His eyes narrowed and he pulled himself to his feet. “RAPHAEL!” he bellowed, knowing that all of heaven had heard it. He took his brother’s threat very seriously. He didn’t doubt that he would do it, and if everything he said was true, he wouldn’t blame him one bit. He would get to the bottom of this. And put a stop to it. Immediately. 

 

Gabriel reappeared in the dining room of the castle where the family was gathered and fell to his knees with a thunk. Sam rushed over to him, alarmed. “Loki? What’s going on? Are you hurt? Where did you go? Why are you wearing your armor?” 

“I confronted Michael. Screamed at him for a few minutes and told him to back off or else,” Loki admitted. 

Sam took a deep breath to try and force calm. “Let me get this straight. You, more than six months pregnant, just a week after nearly losing our baby, go ALONE to confront someone who wants you dead, without even telling anyone you were going?”

“I’m sorry Sam. I know it was stupid and reckless. But I just had to. I couldn’t just sit here and do nothing. I was careful. No one saw me but Michael. I went directly to his office and took him by surprise. He didn’t even have his blade. I wore my armor anyway to protect both me and the baby even if he did have it. I took every precaution, but I had to go. Please understand that.”

Sam could hear the contriteness in Loki’s voice. He knew he was sorry and could only assume that something had overcome him to make him do something like that. “It was stupid and reckless. You put yourself and our child at risk,” he said firmly. He had been determined to hold his ground, right up until he saw Loki wince and noticed the tears in his eyes. “Don’t ever do something like again, Lo. Please. I can’t take it,” he said pulling his lover into an awkward embrace, encumbered by the armor he was still wearing until it disappeared and Loki sank gratefully into his arms. 

“I won’t. I swear,” Loki assured him. 

 

They took a few more days to rest, mostly because of Sam babying Loki half to death, but Loki didn’t feel like he had a leg to stand on, so he allowed it. In the end, it was Fenrir who got them moving. He had a long talk with Sam, assuring him that Loki was plenty strong enough to make a new dimension now without tiring himself out, and Hela and he were strong enough to help him with the house. Sam reluctantly relented and so they found themselves back in a duplicate of the first place they’d had, right down to their clothes and personal belongings that had all been left behind in the evacuation. 

That still didn’t stop Sam from hovering over Loki for the remainder of the pregnancy and they decided that when the baby was born, Sam would be the one to deliver it. They wanted it to be a private thing with just the two of them and the rest of the family assured them that they weren’t offended at all. As terrified as Sam was about delivering his child, he was excited as well. Loki had walked him through the process many times and Hela and Fenrir had delivered many children and assured him that he would be just fine. 

It was just before the start of his eleventh month when Loki went into labor and they had a beautiful baby boy. Sam placed their son in Loki’s arms before climbing into the bed with him, both of them leaning against the headboard, and Sam pulled Loki over so he was leaning against him instead. He gazed over his husband’s shoulder at their tiny son and said, “So for names I was thinking Karame.” He had done a lot of research on it and had a few other options, but that was his favorite. 

“Karame…snake,” Loki translated. 

“Yeah. I figured it was a nice way to honor Jormy without actually naming him after his lost brother,” Sam said hoping it would be okay. 

“I like it. Karame it is. Samuel for his middle name,” he said with a note of finality.

“Okay. If you insist,” Sam said cheerfully, kissing Loki’s exposed neck. “Do you guys have last names or…”

“AvLoki would be the last name. It means ‘of Loki’ or we could go with Winchester. I’m good either way.”

“I think we’ll avoid the expectations and anvils that come with the Winchester name, thanks. Karame Samuel AvLoki.”

Loki had already recovered from the birth by now and said, “What say we go introduce him to the rest of his family?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of part 3. There will be a part 4 eventually. Maybe soon. I don't know. If you guys want I can write an outtake of Michael's conversation with Raphael, but I'm too tired to do that tonight lol.


	13. Chapter 13

Raphael strolled into Michael’s office as though he hadn’t a care in the world. He didn’t know what prompted his brother’s anger, but he was sure he could defuse it. He knew how to handle Michael. As soon as he entered though, the archangel rounded on him. “I just received a rather heated visit from Gabriel. Do you have anything you want to tell me?” 

“We found that he has been keeping the vessels hidden away and so we sought to retrieve them,” Raphael said evenly. 

“And you didn’t think to inform me? Forget that fact that Gabriel is alive, the fact that another archangel is standing against us is something I should have known.”

“You tasked me with keeping the apocalypse on track. This fell within those orders,” Raphael talked around the issue.

“And what is this about kidnapping a child? Torturing a child?”

“An abomination. The offspring of an archangel. It should never have existed at all,” Raphael said unable to keep the heat from his voice. 

“Gabriel assured me that none of his grace was passed to his offspring. Is that true?” Michael asked pointedly. 

“I have not seen them for myself, but the seraphs report that they are without grace, yes.”

“Then they are not abominations and Gabriel has broken no laws. You will leave him and his family alone in the future,” Michael ordered. 

“And what of the vessels?” Raphael said through gritted teeth. 

“Gabriel implied that he had bonded with one of them?” Michael asked for clarification. 

“I do not know. All of the seraphs that were sent to retrieve him were slaughtered by those monsters,” Raphael snapped. 

“Well since everything else that Gabriel told me turns out to be true, I will assume this is as well. That means the vessels are unusable. There is no longer any reason to seek them out,” Michael said with a note of finality. 

“So they are just to get away with the massacre of an entire garrison?” Raphael asked incredulously. 

“The garrison that kidnapped Gabriel’s bonded and attacked his children when they came to retrieve him, killing his son in the process? Yes. Their deaths will lie at your feet. Not his. They should never have been there in the first place. You should have come to me the second Gabriel entered the picture. Perhaps we could have found a peaceful resolution to this. Maybe even before he bound with the vessel. Now, thanks to your incompetence and bloodthirsty tendencies, all of our plans are ruined and we have the threat of a pagan war hanging over our heads. You’re lucky I don’t rip out your grace and make you fall,” he snapped. 

“You wouldn’t,” Raphael challenged. 

“Do not test me, brother. You will not like the outcome. One more toe out of line and you will find yourself among the fallen. Now get out of my sight.”

Once Raphael stormed out, Michael sank back into his chair and put his head in his hands. His baby brother was alive. He was alive and he thought that Michael had ordered his family dead. Losing Gabriel to death had been bad enough, but losing him in life was almost worse. He held no hope for a peaceful resolution. He would keep looking for him though. He still wanted to at least attempt to make amends, even if it would be for naught.


End file.
